So I've had a huge love affair with Avianca and the country it's from, Colombia, since I was just a kid. Morbidly enough, it was the crash of an Avianca 707 in New York in 1990 that sparked my interest in the airline. The very first model airplane I ever bought was a 1/600 scale Avianca 747 by Schabak. I still have that model, and over the years I've grown my collection, and I'm always looking for a way to get on Avianca flights just for a day or two to try them out. Or maybe a full fledged vacation to Colombia is what the doctor ordered. We shall see here in 2017, as my 2016 travels are booked up.
Which leads me to this new arrival. I love Aeroclassics offerings. They have the absolute best selection of vintage and classic liveries around in the 1/400 scale. Airlines like TWA, Western, the original Frontier Airlines and international bygones like BOAC, Olympic, old school Alitalia, MEA, BWIA, Lanica, Avianca, and Varig are all beautifully covered.
This model, in particular is an absolutely beautiful mold, and the livery on it is phenomenal. The detail in the mold in regard to the engines, major antennae, etc. is superb and nicely done. The only thing missing was the Avianca logo on the number 4 engine, as the real aircraft had. Other than that, this bird is absolutely flawless, as the majority of the Aeroclassics in my collection are. The landing gear, surprisingly are just as chunky and proportionate as the real thing is on the 720/707 family.
The history behind this particular model, HK-725, shows this aircraft being one of the workhorses of Avianca's 707/720 fleet, first taking to the skies from Renton, Washington on July 11, 1961, and delivery to Avianca happening on November 16 of the same year. After flying for 19 years, she overran the runway in Quito, Ecuador, at the end of a revenue passenger flight, and was reduced to being scrapped for spare parts to keep the rest of Avianca's 4-hole Boeings flying. Luckily, no one was injured in the accident, a testament to how well Boeing built these early jets.
